AAA 70th Anniversary Concert

 
Ludovic Beier began studying accordion at the age of eight under the watchful eye of his accordionist father and his teacher. He was soon up on stage playing a varied repertoire extending from classical to jazz.

He went through his studies and training without any hitch, going on to participate successfully in national and international competitions, before turning to the stage and developing his own personality; where decisive encounters such as that with Arguyris Koulouris, James Carter, Joel Frahm, Romero Lubambo and Angelo Debarre.

Passionate about music and open to the world, he continues to develop his style according to the various influences he meets along the way, so watch out for his endless surprises! He recently performed at Carnegie Hall with Toots Thielemans among a prestigious line up included Herbie Hancock and Ivan Lins.

For more information on the members of the Roland digital accordion family, please visit www.rolandus.com

Pictured above are Ludovic Beier and concert organizer Sam Falcetti.

The Accordion Teachers' Association of Massachusetts (ATAM) celebrated their 46th Annual New England Music Competition and Festival at the Newton Marriott in Boston, MA.

ATAM President David Lewis welcomed hundreds of contestants who took part in competitions for all ages and levels in solos, duos, ensembles and orchestras in Accordion, Drums, Guitar, Keyboard, Piano and Voice.

During the awards banquet, for the second year in a row, 14 year old Danielle Renzi was awarded the premiere solo title of ATAM New England Accordion Champion. Danielle is a student of Robert Paolo at the Paolo Music School in Johnston, Rhode Island.

Winners in the New England Championship were as follows:

• 1st: Danielle Renzi (Paolo Music)
• 2nd: Lenore DelPonte (Paolo Music)
• 3rd: Matthew Freire (Arruda Music)
• 4th: Ken Parsons (Rosita Lee Music)
• 5th: Paul Yao (Rosita Lee Music)

In addition to the New England Accordion Championship, another exciting Premiere competition was held. Danielle Renzi, in addition to taking the New England Accordion Champion title, also won the third ATAM Entertainment competition.

ATAM Entertainment Championship Winners were as follows:

• 1st: Danielle Renzi (Paolo Music)
• 2nd: Jeff Moore (Rosita Lee Music)
• 3rd: Ken Parsons (Rosita Lee Music)

• Arruda Music of Rhode Island - August Arruda Jr. - Conductor

When not performing, Dr. Schimmel is busy teaching, writing, arranging, adapting and lecturing. From June 12-22, Dr. Schimmel's musical adaptations will be heard in the play Shmulnik's Waltz. The play is by Allan Knee, who rose to international fame with the movie Finding Neverland starring Jonny Depp where Mr. Knee wrote the story. The music for Shmulnik's Waltz is by David Shire, best known for his work in the movies Saturday Night Fever and The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppolla). Originally an New York Off Broadway production, it has toured in regional theatres across the country. Dr. Schimmel scored the work for accordion and violin and added incidental continuity. The Performances will take place at The Jewish Theatre of Grand Rapids/The Spectrum Theatre in Grand Rapids Michigan.

Dr. Schimmel is the featured accordionist in a new CD entitled Saskandinot, featuring the Latvian singer, Laila Sailins. It is a collection of Latvian drinking songs and can be purchased at CD Baby.

Dr. Schimmel's accordion arrangement can be heard in the one woman show, Squeezebox, by and starring Ann Randolph. Originally an off Broadway show, it too has been touring the country since 2004.

The next performances will be in San Francisco at The Marsh Theatre (Main Stage). The performances will take place between May 17 and June 19. The play was produced by Mel Brooks and the late Ann Bancroft.

Accordionist Victor Prieto has recently completed work recording with renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma for one of his upcoming CD.

The CD titled Yo-yo Ma “Songs of Joy” is due for release in December 2008 by Sony BMG Masterworks. The recording work with Yo Yo Ma included Victor recording on two tracks, with additional guest artists on the CD including Boby McFerrin, Cristina Pato, Paquito D'Rivera and others.

Victor Prieto was born in Orense (Spain) in 1975. At the age of nine encouraged by his mother Victor begun to play the accordion. He pursued his studies in Classical accordion at the Orense Conservatory (Spain), while taking harmony, arranging and improvisation classes at Estudio Escola de Musica (Santiago de Compostela, Spain). After receiving a scholarship by the highly respected Jazz school - Berklee College of Music- Victor decided to pursue the performance major under the direction of Joanne Brackeen. Victor is the first and only of his kind, to specialize and apply studies in Accordion at Berklee College of Music. During his stay at Berklee Victor becomes friends with one of his mentors, Oscar Stagnaro.

In 2002 Victor moved to New York where he quickly established himself as one of the most prolific and versatile accordionists on the music and Jazz scenes. As a leader Victor has performed at many prestigious venues and events such as Berklee Performance Center, Lincoln Center, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Blue Note NY, New Jersey Performance Art Center, Three Rivers Musical Festival, Williamsburg Jazz Festival, Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center.

Victor has shared the stage with Yo-yo Ma, Jeff Ballard, Chris Cheek, Paquito D’Rivera, Donny McCaslin, Carlo DeRosa, Lionel Louke among others and is involved in projects such as Pablo Aslan’s Avantango, Emilio Solla’s NY Jazz Tango Project, Alexis Cuadrado’s Trio Iberico and Fernando Otero X Tango.

He teaches Master Classes in Spain, Italy, Portugal, USA and has headed the jazz accordion studies at the Brooklyn Conservatory (2003 – 2004). He is a recipient of numerous awards and prizes for excellence in accordion performance and composition, among them are: the Creative Performer award from the Spanish Association of Artists and Performers, and the first prize at CMZK’s Concourse of Composition (Argentina). Victor's music can be heard on his CD "PERSISTENCIA" which was released by Foxhaven Records.

Keeping a busy performance schedule, The Victor Prieto Trio plus One will perform at La Lanterna the Bar Next Door, 29 MacDougal Street in New York City on May 16th. Musicians include Victor Prieto (accordion), Chris Cheek (sax), Carlo De Rosa (Bass) and E. J. Strickland (drums.)

After the New York concert, Victor will tour Spain from May 20 to June 4th where he will be performing on the National TV and Radio. During this time he will be performing with one of the top jazz guitarists in Spain, Joan Sanmarti as well as recording his new CD in Barcelona.

For a full concert schedule and more information, please visit www.victorprieto.net or e-mail: victorprieto2001@yahoo.com

• Beautiful, handsome, scholarly urtext edition, edited exactly as Guido Deiro played in his records
• 45 pieces, including marches, waltzes, polkas, foxtrots, mazurkas, tangos, etc...
• Book measures 11.75 tall x 8.75 wide x 0.5 inches thick
• Handsome Engraving
• Sturdy Perfect Binding
• 192 pages
• 54 historic photographs
• 8 historic sheet music covers
• Facsimiles of two early Deiro pieces
• 11-page biography of Guido Deiro
• Published April 2008

The American Accordionists' Association proudly announces its 14th annual Master Class and Concert Series titled "The Last Frontier" to be held July 25-27, 2008 at the Tenri Cultural Institute in New York city, located at 43A West 13th Street, between 5th and 6th Ave.

• The Kid: Billy, a new Dance/Video work by eminent choreographer/director Micki Goodman - featuring Dr. Schimmel’s music and silent movie footage of King Vidor’s 1928 classic, The Sky Pilot.
• A lecture on the music of Karel Strahala and his music for the Tango/Harmoniku - two volumes of Czech Tangos, Waltzes, Polkas and Foxtrots written all in 1942
• A new accordion prototype for rock and roll accordionists in development by Benjamin Ickies.
• A virtual wedding of two accordion souls, H and MK, who met a decade ago at The Seminars. Our resident Elvis will perform the ceremony in true blue Hawaiian fashion.
• Uriah The Dead, a short opera about David and Bathsheba from Dead Uriah’s point of view.
• Club Parusia/Here’s to Life, the club at the end of the world – an apocalyptic romp through time and space at the borderline – south of, that is.
• Paul Stein’s 911 Profiteers and other Scoundrels Suite – artfully defacing politicians, benevolent dictators and O.J.
• The debut performance by Duality Wrecks, an anonymous accordion and piano duo designed to shift the focal point of any party or event to pogo-gear with its relentless chance/medleys of pretty much anything.

Pricing is as follows:

• $20.00 per master class
  Those who wish to play, should contact Dr. Schimmel
• $25.00 per concert
• $40.00 per entire day - includes master class and concert
• $110.00 per entire weekend - includes three master classes and three concerts

For reservations and further information: 212-876-0827 or you can e-mail: billschimmel@billschimmel.com or please visit www.ameraccord.com
 

The concert will take place at the Academic Arts Theatre at the Westchester Community College, 75 Grasslands Road, Valhalla, NY 1059. Tickets for the concert are $30.00 (AAA Members, Seniors and Students - $25) with the Dinner: $35.00 (Student Lounge Center) in cooperation with Il Club Italiano at Westchester Community College.

For information, or to download the .pdf flyer and ticket order form, please visit: www.ameraccord.com

The Internet is changing the way your customers are searching for services. The days of lugging out a 12 lb. telephone book to find very limited and outdated business information are coming to an end. People are still letting their fingers do the walking, but they're doing it over a computer keyboard. Below are some revealing facts from the Kelsey Group.

• 74% of US households use the Internet as an information source when shopping.
• Approximately 45% of searches had a buying intent.
• The percentage of respondents who used yellow page directories decreased from 75% to 62%.

(If you have a printed yellow page ad, it is time to consider buying a smaller ad and shifting your marketing dollars to the Internet.) The off-line Yellow Pages see the writing on the wall and are scrambling to transfer their business model to the Internet.

Businesses can no longer ignore these facts. If you want to be successful, you must have a presence where your customers are searching. Being found on the Internet is vital to the future of your business.
 

The American Accordionists' Association will hold three major International accordion competitions in addition to their annual national competitions during its upcoming 70th Anniversary Festival and Competition to be held in Arlington, VA, from August 13-17, 2008.

The three competitions offering $12,000 in prize money include:

• AAA International Piano Accordion Competition, with prizes funded by the Carmen Carrozza Scholarship Fund:
  
  First Prize - $3,500
  Second Prize - $1,000
  Third Prize - $500
  
  
• The Annual Vivian Vivio Stolaruk International Entertainment Competition for Accordion:
  
  First Prize - $3,000
  Second Prize - $1,500
  Third Prize - $500
  
  
• The Maddalena Belfiore Entertainment Competition for Female Accordionists:
  
  First Prize - $1,000
  Second Prize - $500
  Third Prize - $350
  Fourth Prize - $150

All three International Competitions will be held at the festival headquarters, the Holiday Inn/Rosslyn, 1900 North Ft. Myer Drive, Arlington, VA.

For more information, including competition rules and entry forms, please visit www.ameraccord.com.

The popular Quartetto Gelato, featuring recent CIA World Champion Alexander Sevastian (right) will perform at Oneonta NY on the 9th of May, and on May 10 at Fairfield Universtiy in Fairfield, CT. at 8:00 PM.

For over a decade, this dazzling ensemble has enchanted audiences and critics worldwide with their exotic blend of musical virtuosity, artistic passion and charismatic presence. Quartetto Gelato established themselves as dominant forces on the emerging "new classical" scene early in their career by winning the coveted title of NPR Performance Today's Debut Artist of the Year in 1996. Today, Quartetto Gelato continues its reign as an international sensation with repeat sold-out performances throughout the globe.

Classical in intent, eclectic by design, Quartetto Gelato not only thrills its audiences with the mastery of six instruments, but offers the wonderfully unexpected bonus of a brilliant operatic tenor. With a performance repertoire that travels imaginatively between classical masterworks, operatic arias and the sizzling energy of tangos, gypsy and folk songs, the group's relaxed stage presence and delightful humor establishes an immediate rapport with traditional and nontraditional classical audiences alike. Performed without scores, their shows radiate a sense of spontaneity and excitement rarely seen on the classical stage.

The 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons featured over 175 concerts in recital and with orchestras throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. In November 2005, the quartet returned to Sweden for a 14 concert tour and toured Estonia for the first time, performing 3 sold-out concerts. In addition, January 1, 2007 marked the debut broadcast of the group's first DVD on PBS stations throughout the US Filmed in High Definition, it is entitled Quartetto Gelato: A Concert in Wine Country!

Quartetto Gelato comprises Shalom Bard (clarinet), Peter DeSotto (tenor, violin and mandolin), Carina Reeves (cello) and 2007 CIA Coupe Mondiale World Accordion Champion Alexander Sevastian (accordion, bandoneon and piano.)

For further information e-mail: info@quartettogelato.ca

Accordionist and bandoneon artist Lidia Kaminska has been featured in the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer on Sunday April 27th. The article is titled: "Roll in the barrel; roll out Beethoven" and it was written by Inquirer Music Critic Peter Dobrin.

Lidia's concert schedule will include several performances in May, including:

• May 3, 2008, Concerto with the Haddonfield Symphony, Camden, NJ, Saturday, 8 PM. The Gordon Theater at Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts, Rutgers University The program includes:
  Rimsky-Korsakov: Cappriccio Espagnol
  Piazzolla: Aconcagua Concerto for Bandoneon, String Orchestra & Percussion
  Selection of Latin Tangos. Concert is SOLD OUT
  
  
• May 16, 2008, Solo Recital with guest artist, guitarist Kasey Carmody. Las Vegas Chamber Music Society, Las Vegas, NV. Summerlin Library, 1771 Inner Circle, 7 PM. For more information: www.lvcms.org
  
  
• May 22, 23, 24, 2008, Performances with the Owen/Cox Dance Group. Kansas City, MO, H&R Block City Stage Theater, Union Station, 30 W. Pershing Rd. For more information: http://www.owencoxdance.org

For more information on Lidia Kaminska, please visit: www.lidiakaminska.com or to read the newspaper article mentioned above, please visit: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/18308399.html